Starring: how Svechnikov and Company led Carolina to the Stanley Cup

Twenty years later, Carolina is back at the top. Rod Brindamore's team won the Stanley Cup, beating Vegas in six games of the finals series. In the decisive meeting on the night of June 15, the Hurricanes won 3-0 thanks to goals from Taylor Hall, Jackson Blake and Nikolai Ehlers. Along with the main NHL trophy, three Russians, Andrei Svechnikov, Alexander Nikishin and Pyotr Kochetkov, also received championship rings. For the Raleigh club, this is the second Stanley Cup in history after the 2006 triumph, and for Russian hockey, this is the 11th consecutive overseas championship season.

The Championship match

On the eve of the fifth match of the finals series, Vegas head coach John Tortorella said he was confident that his team would make it to the decisive seventh match. However, experts could hardly believe in such a scenario. Over the course of the series, Carolina was able to find its game, while the Knights, on the contrary, began to lose it. In addition, they were left without William Karlsson, the second center of the team.

"Of course, losing Will sucks, it's going to be very difficult to replace him," Vegas leader Mitch Marner said.

Tortorella eventually shook up the squad: Riley Smith (did not play for more than a month), Braden Bowman (did not make the playoffs at all) and Kadan Korczak (did not appear on the ice in the finals) were added to it.

But any coaching changes go to waste if the team starts the match badly. That's exactly what happened to Vegas: the hosts overslept the appearance of Taylor Hall on their blue line, who calmly drove to the left faceoff circle and threw right into the corner. Carter Hart couldn't save her.

For a Canadian who, after Tortorella's appointment, was able to literally restart his career, this finale was shaping up in a terrible way. He conceded more than four goals in each of the meetings of the series.

The morale of the Knights' field players was clearly destroyed by the second goal: the most experienced Noah Hanifin twice failed to get the puck out of the zone in the simplest situation. Then, after Jackson Blake's throw, the puck hit Marner and ricocheted right into the corner. Then I wanted to feel sorry for Hart. For the first time, he was the one who played great while the team nullified his efforts, and not the other way around.

But Brandon Bussey, who suddenly became the main character in Carolina, performed amazingly. Back in the summer of 2020, the goalkeeper worked in fast food, and until 2025 he did not even play in the NHL. Could he have imagined leading the team to a Stanley Cup victory? Of course not.

It is worth noting the Kind of Brindamore who decided on such a daring step. He claims that Frederik Andersen, who was considered the main goalkeeper for a long time, who disappeared from the application, is completely healthy.

"I know that Freddie is ready to play. We will decide what to do: leave everything as it is or release it on ice. It's nice that all the goalkeepers are available now," the coach tried to confuse the opponent before the sixth game.

I am glad that the name of Pyotr Kochetkov, who played only nine matches due to injury, will appear at the Stanley Cup. This is again the merit of Brindamore, who included the Russian in the application in the final series.

But even Bassi couldn't save the Hurricanes after Mark Stone and Jack Eichel's killer two-on-one nine minutes before the siren. The latter hit the crossbar and deprived the team of any chance of a comeback.

As a result, the Vegas players did not score a single goal, and the goal scored at the very beginning of the meeting remained victorious. As a result, the Knights were forced to watch the triumph of the Carolina hockey players, among whom were three of our compatriots: in addition to Kochetkov, these are Andrei Svechnikov and Alexander Nikishin.

The Svechnikov Season

When Andrey Svechnikov was still a child, it was clear to everyone that he would become a real star. And every year the young striker only increased his pace. The rivals of the Ak Bars school understood that it was useless to resist him: he could put a dozen pucks in each game. Therefore, when he went overseas, it was clear that this guy would be highly regarded in the NHL draft.

Buffalo, which was the first pick eight years ago, did not doubt for long: the team needed a defender, and Swede Rasmus Dahlin was considered no less a talent than Svechnikov. And the Sabres hardly regret their choice: Dahlin has become one of the best defenders in the league, and the team has finally made it to the playoffs this season. But Svechnikov certainly wasn't worried about not being drafted first. Andrey joined a team that has been systematically building from season to season and has never missed the playoffs in these eight years.

At the same time as Svechnikov appeared in the system, Rod Brindamore became the head coach of the Hurricanes. It seems that the specialist's playing style was almost ideal for the Russian striker. Like Svechnikov, he became an ideal player for Brindamore. The Carolina coach was called primitive and inflexible, but the speed and power of the Hurricanes eventually took their toll.: Vegas had no chances in the fifth and sixth games.

Andrey gained universal fame when he scored the first lacrosse goal. However, there were also a lot of complaints about Svechnikov: many expected him to be much more effective (the Russian's record is 70 points for the regular season). And Andrey retired quite often: the intensity of the fight and the ability to play hardball did not always go in the right direction. But there was still a lot of benefit from Svechnikov.

In the final series, the Russian striker scored three times, and precisely in the most important moments. In the third match, he completed the Carolina comeback with 0:4, equalizing the score at the very end of regular time. And even though that game ended with Vegas winning in overtime, it was a key moment for the Hurricanes' morale. And in the fifth match, the Russian became the undisputed main character, scoring a double in the majority.

By the age of 26, Svechnikov had played more than 600 NHL games, scored almost 500 points and won the Stanley Cup. His career can already be called successful, but so far Andrey has not reached his peak. There are no flaws in his game: he is well equipped technically, throws well, does not fail defensively and is mentally ready. So, he can raise the Cup more than once. Together with Brindamore, of course.

Kochetkov's story

Pyotr Kochetkov's star lit up brightly at the MFM-2019. Then our national team, led by Valery Bragin, took third place, losing to the USA in the semifinals, and Peter scored an incredible 95.3% of deflected shots in the tournament. It was this performance that seemed to be the reason for Carolina's selection in the draft at the very beginning of the second round.

In the end, he did well with the Hurricanes, but before that he had to go through a difficult path in Russia. In SKA, due to the great competition, Peter could not break into the base. However, it was not possible to do this in the less high-status Vityaz and Sochi.

Torpedo helped me regain my self-confidence. The goalkeeper, who was no longer expected in St. Petersburg, signed a contract with Carolina, which seemed an unobvious step, but remained on loan in Nizhny Novgorod. The playoffs in the 2021/22 KHL season began at the end of winter, so after Nizhny Novgorod's departure, Peter went to Raleigh, where the Hurricanes play. However, initially his path lay through the farm. There he managed to score an incredible 13 wins in 15 matches and received a call-up to the base. And this is despite the fact that we are talking about a goalkeeper who was written off in Balashikha a year earlier!

Then came another bright season, which he spent half of in the AHL. And in order not to be bored at all, Peter also fought with rivals. After him, Kochetkov signed a strange long-term contract: four years for two million dollars. An extremely small amount for an NHL goalkeeper and an incredibly long time for a bridge.

In 2023, the Russian even entered the top 5 nominees for the Calder Trophy, the prize for the best newcomer. However, there was no chance to compete with Connor Bedard. But there was an opportunity to compete for the number one position in Carolina: due to Frederik Andersen's eternal health problems, Peter played more than 90 matches in the next two seasons.

It was probably in this regular season that he would have become the Hurricanes' main hope. But due to a serious injury sustained in December, the Russian was able to take to the ice in only nine matches. Kochetkov still managed to recover before the start of the playoffs and even had to go on the ice in the match against the Islanders. Despite participating in the warm-up, Peter was removed from the game: there were probably problems with the documents during the formal transfer from the AHL, where he was getting in shape.

In the playoffs, the Russian came in third: after Andersen and the main opener of the season, Brandon Bassi. According to the regulations, Kochetkov could not even count on putting his name on the Cup: for this, he had to be included in the application at least once in the final series. Brindamore gave me this opportunity! It's unclear what happened to the Dane, but he suddenly disappeared from the roster. Bassi became the main one, and Peter watched the game from the bench, officially becoming the NHL champion.

Nikishin spent his first full season in the NHL (he joined Carolina during last year's playoffs). Alexander spent his first regular season in the NHL quite confidently: he became the best in terms of usefulness ("+18") and with 33 (11+22) points set the Hurricanes record for performance among rookie defenders, and the league included him in the symbolic team of the season's debutants. He has 1 (0+1) point in 17 playoff games.

The team with Russian hockey players won the NHL Grand Trophy for the 11th consecutive season. The last club to win the Stanley Cup without Russian hockey players was Chicago in 2015.